[bru-info] Bus Riders Union Questions Transit Promises from Vancouver Mayoral Candidates

[bru-info at lists.resist.ca]

November 12, 2005 – VANCOUVER

BUS RIDERS UNION QUESTIONS TRANSIT PROMISES FROM MAYORAL CANDIDATES

	With one week to go before municipal elections Mayoral candidates Sam
Sullivan and Jim Green have recently made election promises to
Vancouver’s transit users.  The NPA’s Sullivan has said he would like to
see fares lowered back to pre-2005 levels while Vision Vancouver’s Jim
Green is talking about free transit in the downtown core.  The Bus Riders
Union, with over 800 members and broad support in transit-dependent
communities, is skeptical of such promises coming from parties whose
representatives have historically voted for higher fares, transit cuts
and privatization of the public transit system.

	“The fact that the rhetoric about transit is coming fast and furious is
indicative of the importance of transit to the economic, social and
environmental well-being of the region,” says Martha Roberts of the Bus
Riders Union.  “Unfortunately, neither the Vision Vancouver nor the NPA
have acted to make accessible, affordable and reliable public transit a
priority.  The Bus Riders Union has been organizing for four years, with
both NPA and Vision Vancouver directors on the TransLink board. 
Directors from both parties have voted for fare increases and for
privatized mega projects which are sucking money out of the bus system
and undermining transit as a public service.”

	“Jim Greens promises are typical of Vision Vancouver’s ‘pragmatic’
approach which plays to business interests and affluent voters,”
continues Roberts.  “Of the tens of thousands of transit-dependent bus
rider we’ve talked to over the years not one has ever said ‘what I really
need is free transit in the downtown core’.  This is promise for
retailers and well-off ‘choice’ riders, not for those who actually rely
on transit.  What we really need is lower fares across the board to
alleviate the hardship of low-income bus riders who have to ride the bus
every single day.  What we really need is more buses and increased
service to so that people don’t have to spend hours standing on an
overcrowded bus after a long day of work, taking care of kids and trying
to meet their basic needs.  Greens promises suggest just how out of touch
he is with the real lives of low-income communities in this city.”

	“As for the NPA,” says Roberts.  “The party of [former TransLink Chair]
George Puil really needs no introduction when it comes to transit. 
During their time on the TransLink board they increased fares twice in
two years, they cut service, and they provoked a dispute with bus drivers
which resulted in a four month lock-out/ strike.  We have good reason to
be highly skeptical of the NPA as a champion of bus riders.  For Sullivan
this just looks like empty election rhetoric.”

	The Bus Riders Union has called a Fare Strike for November 14 – 18 to
call for more buses, lower fares, increased service, and an end to
criminalization and racial profiling of bus riders by the GVTA police
force.

	“We need to build the collective power of bus riders to fight for our
rights, whoever wins this election,” says Roberts.  “The fare strike is
about economically and politically marginalized people taking direct,
democratic action on an issue that is vitally important to us, and
TransLink and all municipal politicians should take heed.”

Media Contact:  BRU Office (604 215 2775) or Jennifer Efting (604 255 4745)


Bus Riders Union
407-119 West Pender Street, Vancouver
(604) 215-2775
http://bru.resist.ca/
bru at resist.ca